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IT’S not often that I see eye to eye with our chief justice on matters relating to judicial activism. But when he raises the issue of overpopulation, I am happy to support him.

If I were to focus on a single issue that has directly caused many of Pakistan’s woes, it would be the sheer number of people now jostling for space and resources. Consider: at Partition seven decades ago, West Pakistan (and now just Pakistan) had a population of around 32 million. This number has now shot up to 220m.

Even far richer countries would struggle to cope with such a rapid increase. Had Pakistan a better track record of governance, we still would not have been able to feed, clothe, house and educate these teeming millions. As it is, ineffective politicians and generals have not given the matter much thought or resources.

Ayub Khan was the last leader to take population seriously, and to fund a family planning programme. After him, leaders tended to push the problem on the back-burner, expecting their successors to tackle this potentially sensitive subject. But despite the resistance from the clerical community, the fact is that the Muslim belief system is silent on the subject of birth control.

Successive governments have skirted around the whole issue.

As a result of the lack of political will, successive governments have skirted around the whole issue. There was a time when the media discussed overpopulation; seminars on the subject were organised; and NGOs worked to motivate couples to have fewer babies. Now, in an era of multiple media channels, all we hear is silence.

According to a report published in this newspaper, Pakistan needs to create around 2m jobs to absorb the young people who enter the market every year. Currently, 4m youths aged between 15 and 24 years are unemployed; by 2020, this number is expected to rise to 8.6m.

What happens to this huge pool of the unemployed? For most parents, getting a job for their son is an acute and pressing problem. This is why Imran Khan’s campaign pledge of creating 10m jobs in five years resonated with so many voters.

Many jobless youths turn to crime; others to drugs; and some take the jihadist route. The reality is that our economy simply does not create the number of jobs needed to absorb the millions of young people applying for them. A lack of fresh investment, combined with a slowdown in government recruitment, has closed the doors to formal employment.

The 1951 census showed East Pakistan to have a population of 66m, while the western wing was home to 42m. Currently, Bangladesh has a population of 163m with a growth rate of 1.04 per cent, while Pakistan’s numbers have shot up to close to 220m with a growth rate of 2.1pc. Older readers might recall that when Bangladesh came into being, Henry Kissinger dismissed it as “an international basket case”, while many in Pakistan sneered at the rate at which Bengalis were supposed to reproduce.

Actually, the reverse has occurred, with Pakistanis breeding like rabbits due largely to our male-dominated society in which women have little say or control over the number of babies they have. Most Pakistani children are undernourished and uneducated, hardly the ‘assets’ politicians like to claim they are. Our exploding numbers are, if anything, a time bomb that is destabilising society.

Against this backdrop, the chief justice’s suggestion to give population planning priority is to be welcomed, even though I doubt if much will come of it. Given the political power numerically insignificant religious parties have acquired, it is doubtful that a politician like Imran Khan, sympathetic as he is to the religious right, will go against the flow, and actually push through a programme to limit population growth rate.

The reality is that politicians tend to think in the short term, and refuse to face down the most backward elements in our society. Clerics have often attacked efforts to control population as a Western plot to reduce the number of the faithful. Ask them how children will be educated, fed and housed, and you get an answer that shuts down the discussion: “The Almighty will provide.”

Unless politicians find the political will and the courage to change this discourse and push the narrative into the 21st century, Pakistan is poised to become the fourth most populated country in the world with 306m people. Luckily, I won’t be around then to witness this mass of humanity squeezed into a relatively small area, but I shudder to think of what my grandsons will have to go through.

While there is no silver bullet to solve the problem, countries like Bangladesh have proved that by educating and empowering women, a slowdown in the growth rate is entirely feasible. Other Asian countries have had the same experience. But Pakistan, with its criminal neglect of education, has failed its children in so many ways.

Comments (43) Closed

So true. Most developing countries from Africa to Asia are afflicted with this problem.. Too bad Pakistan doesn't want to follow China's example in this regard.

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RK Singh

Dec 15, 2018 09:34am

Pakistan's population was 240 million last counted. Also people from FATA , Baluchistan and AJK left out. So 250 Million plus.

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Reader

Dec 15, 2018 10:20am

Mr. Hussain needs to be heard with respect.

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Jawaid

Dec 15, 2018 10:43am

Educating women and empowering them economically is the effective approach to control population. One can't foresee happening these in our country at least for the coming decade.

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f k y

Dec 15, 2018 10:50am

The growth rate of our population growth according offical figure from 1998-2017 is 2.4%.For such an increased rate our resources are precipitously dwindling.Subsequently popping up crisis in basic sectors like unemployent, insufficient healthcare, improper shelter and illiteracy

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Shalone

Dec 15, 2018 11:04am

There is no alternative but to control the population. China had one child policy which has resulted in raising the standard of living of more than 400 million people in that country. Pakistan should follow that approach. In addition to reducing poverty, it will encourage women to do more participation outside the home than just producing children and remain stuck at home.

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Asma sufi

Dec 15, 2018 11:09am

True to the core...but who is listening

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BK

Dec 15, 2018 11:31am

On the way to implode

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Farhan

Dec 15, 2018 11:31am

This is the single greatest threat to Pakistan. CJ is right on this and hopefully the government will comply with his requests.

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jdd

Dec 15, 2018 11:41am

Hat's off sir at least some one in Pakistan has guts to say the real problem

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Hissar

Dec 15, 2018 12:22pm

Pakistan villages are not willing to take polio vaccine, how can politicians convince, the villagers.

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Zak

Dec 15, 2018 12:23pm

IK the right leader to tackle the situation. One of his main focus is education, which no other party bothered about. Population control will fall under education.

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wellwisher

Dec 15, 2018 12:23pm

the problem is recognised now.

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Steve lomas

Dec 15, 2018 01:15pm

@avtar , the thing is relying on Government on enforce such things can lead to over control by government. As humans, we are able to learn and educate ourselves into ethical positions. I don't know why China has to be your role model.

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BhaRAT

Dec 15, 2018 03:10pm

The government held an entire day event regarding the rise of population just one week ago

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ABL

Dec 15, 2018 03:55pm

In those days, this uncontrolled behaviour was known as "population bomb", which has now exploded. And we, as a nation are struggling to cope in every sector of development.

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Lohpurush

Dec 15, 2018 07:08pm

Maulvis who oppose the family planning must also advise how to sustain the high population without sufficient resources

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Tariq

Dec 15, 2018 07:39pm

A good analysis of situation of our future, hope our leadership listens and take some long term actions otherwise I agree the future looks quite bleak.

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R

Dec 15, 2018 08:23pm

Only one solution, mass education

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Amjad Durrani Engineer USA

Dec 15, 2018 08:36pm

An excellent write up focusing on an urgent and demanding issue of rapid population growth whose 64% population comprises of youth having no propspect of getting access to higher education, health facilities & employment opportunities to vouch for a better economic future for themselves and their families.

The writer is absolutely correct in saying that after Ayub Khan’s realistic approach to contain rising population through institution of family planning, no headway occurred during succeeding govts. It is irony of fate that during past few decades other nations who were economically not better than us took strides in development of their literacy program through population control & are much better off than us.

Instead of providing a better deal to our teeming population having 87M as illiterate, our previous govts. aided in the spread of ultra conservatism seeping State’s resources & energies to contain security threats created by it. We need to revisit our priorities w/o delay.

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Dr W Rahman

Dec 15, 2018 09:26pm

Farms are decreasing in size as land is divided up with each generation. There is literally a war being fought within families now. In fighting is a common lament I hear among middle class families. If population has increased by seven times since 1947 then farm area must have shrunk massively. The population explosion was predicted long ago by the experts but our politicians like ostriches just buried their heads in the ground.

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A.M. Khawar

Dec 16, 2018 03:17am

With population growth of 2.1%, we need over 4.6 million jobs per year to provide employment to youth entering the job market. Even USA, with its 20+ times larger GDP, cannot create that many jobs per year.

The perils of high population growth are many.
An unemployed young man/woman is a frustrated man, whose self-respect is in the pits, for the lack of usefulness to the family and the society. He/she is a sitting duck for exploitation. The sinister criminal and immoral networks are ready to use him/her to disrupt the law and order.
Surely we don’t need this!

I grew up in Ayub Khan’s era.
The family planning slogan “Kam Bachchay, Khush-Hall Ghrana (Fewer Children, Happier Family”) was hard to miss. It was everywhere; on the walls, bridges, newspapers, magazine, radio and TV.

That was 50+ years ago. No serious family planning program ever since!
Would the current regime wake up and make a SERIOUS and SUSTAINED EFFORT towards family planning and population control?

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Tahira

Dec 16, 2018 03:30am

Second most urgent issue after preserving the dignity of every individual regardless of religious belief, race, ethnicity and social status.

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Pervez

Dec 16, 2018 04:00am

Population control can only be achieved by educating the masses and offering incentives force will not work. Our neighbor tried it and failed miserably.

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Arun

Dec 16, 2018 05:40am

Incentivise small families by paying Rs1000 a month directly into their bank account until the birth of the third baby so all will accept a lifelong bounty and stop at two.

Far far cheaper than importing oil and gas to support a population increasing by 4m a year.

Just to build one million homes to house so many each year would cost $100b !!

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Alba

Dec 16, 2018 08:15am

Successive governments have skirted around the whole issue because it is political suicide.

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Imran

Dec 16, 2018 08:19am

Size of Japan is less than half of Pakistan and it’s population is only 70 millions less than Pakistan. Pakistan have has lot more natural resources than Japan. So the problem is not over population it’s bad governence.

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Bill

Dec 16, 2018 08:24am

Chinese economists told the Chinese premier that unless China defused its population bomb that population would erase every economic gain China made in its race to catch up to the West economically. -- The same math applies to Pakistan in 2018.

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Maboob Saleem

Dec 16, 2018 08:27am

@Jawaid, .... We are committing economic suicide.

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azhar

Dec 16, 2018 09:31am

Pakistan has already exploded in terms of population. The math is pure simple: number of people x resources. Pakistan has one of the largest unskilled population in the world. I hope Chinese will see an opportunity and use them as labor rates are rising in China. The devaluation of currency is just the first step. Harder times are definitely ahead if not already in.

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T. Ramakrishnan

Dec 16, 2018 09:54am

Improving economic-educational standards, especially in women, leads to low birth rates better than “Birth Control”. The success of State-mandated ‘control’ in China is turning out to be a pyrrhic victory --- female-infanticide, skewed gender-ratio and a looming demographic disadvantage to economic expansion. In Pakistan, it might do some good in urban middle-class women with careers, but they might already be doing it.

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Mahjbeen khan

Dec 16, 2018 10:50am

Sir - you are very true in your opinion about population control. In my personal view we do not want to control population as childeren are the only happiness from which one can feel accomplish - Youth has to work hard and should try to search their jobs abroad . Educated or uneducated mother both needs a son for their survival in family and society . And they for this purpose they have to increase the numbers of their childeren . We have to pass the life span around the lives of our childeren . We don't have enough money for friends, dinners, outings and all that - we have to pass our lives aroud our families and big families are big shelter .

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Anand

Dec 16, 2018 12:23pm

When the food riots come it will all be taken care of

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Harry

Dec 16, 2018 12:31pm

@Imran, Population is not the problem.

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Kamath

Dec 16, 2018 09:37pm

Bravo, Irfan has penned an extremely important colomn. Runaway population is a curse anywhere in the world. Overpopulation is always followed by problems mentioned by the author, but also pollution, corruption in every walk of life, ill health among populace, destruction of of wild life , poisoning of clean water of rivers and lake and many more! There is no better time to start taking steps to arrest runaway population than now!

Irfan, please live to be 100 and write more colomns to educate and inform anyone who is interested.

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Kamath

Dec 16, 2018 09:45pm

@Harry, Ifpopulation is not a problem, who do you blame?

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Ahsan Danish

Dec 16, 2018 11:29pm

i totally agree u..

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Fazal Karim

Dec 17, 2018 06:52am

Commentators should suggest ways to control population if it is possible.

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Salman Nizamani

Dec 17, 2018 10:05am

100% true, i mean my own village population is been growing so rapidly that literally the underground water is becoming scarce in many of the areas in our village!

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BAXAR

Dec 17, 2018 12:39pm

Population growth is the revenge of the poor against the dictatorship of the elite. It is the Achille's heel of the elite, for which they don't have any solution. You have to eliminate misery in order to control the population growth. For that you need to shed your privileges and transfer some towards the poor. At this moment, the elite still need more privileges, hence it is in no mood to transfer the acquired one to others. Population cannot be controlled without the will of those who grow it, and they will not until you provide them with tangible hope for the future. Why would they make an effort to secure the future the elite's children, when the elite is not ready to make any for their children? Reap what you sow, the nature adjusts itself.